That’s probably not a question you would be thinking of asking just a few years ago, but now that CBD products are everywhere, with hundreds of millions of dollars in sales, and claims that it can treat everything from seizures and anxiety to cancer, you might be thinking you need to jump on this new fad.

What Is CBD Oil?

Many folks are likely skeptical when they hear about all of the benefits of CBD oil.

This is the stuff that is extracted from marijuana plants, right?

How is it even legal to sell CBD oil or gummies infused with CBD?

To understand that, you have to understand that cannabidiol (CBD) oil is the part of the marijuana plant that doesn’t get you high. That comes from tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

And many of the products you see with CBD oil that is sold over-the-counter aren’t even derived from marijuana, but instead come from hemp plants.

Labeling something as hemp doesn’t necessarily make it legal though. Regulators in Ohio, for example, recently announced that CBD oil derived from hemp is illegal and that the only legal CBD oil will be dispensed in state-licensed dispensaries.

What Is the Evidence for CBD Oil?

There is definitely evidence that CBD oil can have beneficial effects in some medical conditions.

Except for treating some types of resistant seizures, there is no good evidence that CBD oil has all of these other benefits.

In fact, the FDA recently approved Epidiolex oral solution for the treatment of seizures associated with two rare and severe forms of epilepsy, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome. Epidiolex is an oral solution of oil-based CBD that is extracted from marijuana plants.

What other medical conditions?

While it is not approved to treat any other medical conditions, cannabidiol is being studied to treat people with ADHD, anxiety, autism, schizophrenia, chronic pain, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson disease, Tourette syndrome, and substance use disorders.

Should You Try CBD Oil?

What does that mean right now if you have a child with anxiety or another disorder and you are interested in CBD oil?

Although it might be tempting to buy and try the CBD oil that you can find at your local health food store, remember that they aren’t the same thing as Epidiolex, the prescription version of CBD. When you buy an over-the-counter CBD product, you have no idea what dosage of CBD you are really getting.

Anyway, until further testing is done, you have no idea what dose to give your child with anxiety or any other disorder besides seizures anyway.

And like other drugs, CBD oil can have side effects.

So unless you can get in a clinical trial, you should likely wait and continue your current therapies.

But since Epidiolex is approved to treat certain seizures, can’t your doctor simply prescribe it off-label to treat other conditions, like anxiety, if they wanted to? While that does often happen for other medications, it is very unlikely to happen for Epidiolex, even after the rescheduling process is completed and it is no longer a Schedule I substance and can be prescribed in states where it is illegal to prescribe medical marijuana.

Like this:

These kids don’t look like they need any help focusing on the present moment – having fun playing with each other! Photo by Todd Fahrner

Once upon a time, you probably would not have if you weren’t Buddhist.

Mindfulness is a form of meditation.

“Most of the time, we are lost in the past or carried away by the future. When we are mindful, deeply in touch with the present moment, our understanding of what is going on deepens, and we begin to be filled with acceptance, joy, peace, and love.”

But much like yoga, an ancient Hindu practice, mindfulness has become popular without understanding its spiritual ties.

Benefits of Mindfulness

Why practice mindfulness?

What are the benefits of mindfulness?

You can actually find some studies that have found all kinds of benefits of mindfulness, from increased immune functioning to boosting your memory and attention span.

Now, I would view any of those benefits with a lot of skepticism, but the benefits that do seem plausible include decreasing stress and anxiety and improving your sleep, etc.

“Mindfulness meditation on breath, perhaps the most well-known type, involves sitting quietly, resting or closing your eyes and bringing your attention to your breath. When your attention drifts away, which it is likely to do, simply usher your attention back to your breath without judgment.”

AAP on Just Breathe: The Importance of Meditation Breaks for Kids

The American Academy of Pediatrics even suggests that mindfulness meditation can be helpful for children, although it is a clinical report from the Section on Integrative Medicine that is examining “best-available evidence.”

Does Mindfulness Work?

Many of us would like mindfulness to work.

Stress and anxiety are big problems today, both among kids and their parents. Their pediatricians too. So should we all start reading books on mindfulness?

Or go to a mindfulness group parenting class or start mindfulness-based cognitive therapy?

“Despite existing methodological limitations within each body of literature, there is a clear convergence of findings from correlational studies, clinical intervention studies, and laboratory-based, experimental studies of mindfulness—all of which suggest that mindfulness is positively associated with psychological health, and that training in mindfulness may bring about positive psychological effects.”

Keng et al on Effects of mindfulness on psychological health: A review of empirical studies

Considering that many reviews have been critical and the one with the most praise could only find a suggestion of positive associations, although I have always liked the idea of mindfulness, I am skeptical of its use as a medical treatment.

“I think the best current summary is to consider mindfulness like yoga, or a specific form of exercise. There is evidence that doing yoga has specific health benefits. However, those benefits are likely not specific to yoga and are universal to exercise. It is therefore more accurate to say that exercise has many health benefits, and yoga is a form of exercise.”

Give mindfulness a try if you want. Just don’t expect miracles and realize that with all of the distractions that you likely have in your life, being truly mindful is going to be much more difficult than you could ever imagine.

And while you can sell mindfulness, it is now a billion dollar industry, you can’t really buy it.

You can start with turning off the TV unless you are watching a specific program. And putting your phone down when the kids are around. Basically, get away from always trying to multitask and focus on who you are with or what you are doing at any one moment.

Like this:

Do your kids have to get up too early because school starts too early?

Parents often ask for help getting their kids to fall sleep and then stay asleep all night.

At least they do when they are little.

Teens often have trouble sleeping too though, but parents often don’t recognize these sleep problems and might not think to ask for help. They do likely see some of the issues that can be caused by a poor night’s sleep though, which can include irritability, sadness, a poor attention span, and hyperactivity, etc.

Why Teens Don’t Sleep Well

From being over-scheduled and having to get up early for school to staying up late on a screen, there are many reasons why your teen might not be sleeping well.

There are also many different types of sleep problems.

To understand what is causing your child’s sleep problems, ask yourself these questions and share the answers with your pediatrician:

Does your teen sleep at least 8 1/2 to 9 1/2 hours each night?

Does your teen have trouble falling asleep or does he just wake up a lot in the middle of the night? Or does your teen seem to sleep enough, but is still always tired?

doesn’t get in bed until he is actually ready to go to sleep, which means not watching TV, reading, or doing anything else on his bed

gets out of bed if he doesn’t fall asleep after 10 to 15 minutes and reads a few pages of a book, before trying to go to sleep again

Did that work?

If you teen is still having sleep problems, encourage them to try some basic relaxation techniques, such as progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, and deep breathing or abdominal breathing. You do them at bedtime and again if you wake up in the middle of the night.

I especially like the idea of guided imagery for teens, as they can focus on something they like to do, whether it is building a sandcastle on the beach, or going horseback riding, surfing, hiking, or playing baseball, etc. They should focus on the details of the story they make up, coming back to it if their mind wanders, and hopefully they fall asleep as they get caught up in it.

With the deep breathing technique, they slowly breath in through their nose and out through their mouth. They can hold their breath for a few seconds or breath into their abdomen too (abdominal breathing).

Progressive muscle relaxation is another technique that might help your child relax at bedtime. They simply tense and then relax each muscle group of their body, one at a time, starting with their toes and working their way up. If they make it up to their forehead and aren’t asleep, then they should work their way down, perhaps doing 3 to 5 repetitions for each muscle group, or try another technique.

And be sure to talk to your pediatrician if your teen continues to struggle with sleep problems.

What To Know About Teen Sleep Problems

Although teen sleep problems are common, they can cause serious daytime issues for your teenager, which makes it important to learn about good sleep hygiene and that help is available from your pediatrician.

Be prepared for when you child eats a bug, has a night terror, or wakes up barking like a seal.

Breath holding spells – in a typical breath holding spell, a young child cries, either from a tantrum or a fall, etc., and then holds his breath (involuntarily) and briefly passes out. Although it sounds scary and the episode might look like a seizure, these kids usually quickly wake up and are fine after. Kids who have breath holding spells are often prone to repeated spells though, so you do want to warm other caregivers so they don’t freak out if your child has one. Eventually, kids outgrow having them.

Febrile Seizures – parents often describe their child’s first febrile seizure as ‘the worst moment of their life.’ Febrile seizures typically occur when a fever rises rapidly, but although they are scary, they are usually brief, stop without treatment, don’t cause any problems, and most kids outgrow having them by the time they are about five years old.

Nosebleeds – a nosebleed that doesn’t stop is certainly scary, but with proper treatment, most nosebleeds will stop in ten to twenty minutes (if not sooner), even if your child wakes up in the middle of the night with a bloody nose for what you think is no reason.

Night terrors – often confused for nightmares, a child having a night terror will wake up in the early part of the night yelling and screaming, which is why parents think their child is having a nightmare. The scary thing though, is that their child will be confused, likely won’t recognize you, and might act terrified – and it all might last for as long as 45 minutes or more. Fortunately, night terrors are normal. Your child likely won’t even remember what happened the next morning. And they eventually stop.

Eating a Bug – “Kids eat bugs all the time. Few if any symptoms are likely to occur.” – that’s a quote from the National Capital Poison Center, who must get more than a few calls from worried parents about their kids eating bugs. Or finding the evidence later – when you see a dead bug in their diaper…

High Fever – pediatricians have done a lot of education about fever phobia over the years, but parents often still get scared that a high fever is going to cause brain damage or hurt their child in some other way. Try to remember that fever is just another symptom and doesn’t tell you how sick your child is.

Playing Doctor – even though it’s natural for young kids to be curious about their bodies, the average parent is likely going to be scared and upset if they “catch” their kids playing doctor. Understand that it is usually a normal part of child development and don’t turn it into a problem by making it into more than it is.

Hives – a child with classic hives might have a red raised rash develop suddenly all over his body. And since hives are very itchy, that child is probably going to be miserable, which can make hives very scary, even though without other symptoms (like vomiting or trouble breathing), they typically aren’t a sign of a serious allergic reaction. The other thing about hives that can be scary is that even when they go away with a dose of Benadryl, they often come back – sometimes for days, but often for weeks. And your pediatrician might not be able to tell you what triggered them.

Croup – your child goes to bed fine, but then wakes up in the middle of the night with a strange cough that sounds like a barking seal, has a hoarse cry, and it seems like he is wheezing. Scary, right? Sure, but if you realize he probably has croup and that some time in the bathroom with a hot shower (getting the room steamy can often calm his breathing), you’ll be ready for this common viral infection.

Choking – while choking can be a life-threatening emergency, most episodes of choking aren’t. In addition to learning CPR and how to prevent choking, remember that if you child “is still able to speak or has a strong cough” then you may not have to do anything, except maybe 911 if he or she is having some breathing difficulties. It is when your child is choking and can not breath at all (and can’t talk and isn’t coughing) that you need to quickly react and do the Heimlich Maneuver while someone calls 911.

Even with a little foreknowledge and preparation, many of these very common pediatric issues are scary. Don’t hesitate or be afraid to call your pediatrician for more help.

Whether caused by the loss of a friend or loved one, a recent move, being teased or bullied, difficulties at home, or problems at school, childhood stress can lead to behavioral problems, anxiety, depression, headaches, drug use, and insomnia, among many other symptoms and medical problems.

Other symptoms of stress can include mood swings or temper tantrums in a younger child, withdrawing from friends and family, and aggression.

What Causes Kids to Have Stress?

Unfortunately, the source of stress for a child is frequently not so easy to recognize and parents are not always very good at noticing things that could be stressors, which can include things like:

a change at daycare for preschool age children, including attending daycare for the first time, moving to a new room, having a new teacher, or changing to a new daycare, etc.

having too much homework

being over-scheduled with sports and other extracurricular activities

having expectations for his performance that are unrealistic and too high or a fear of failure, despite of having good grades, having a lot of friends, etc.

a divorce or death in a friend’s family, which can raise fears that the same thing could happen to his own parents

poor self esteem

watching something stressful on the news, such as a school shooting, terrorist attack, or natural disaster

a chronic medical problem, like asthma or diabetes, or an acute medical problem, like a burn or broken leg

a medical problem in a family member

a traffic accident

financial problems at home

Keep in mind that common childhood transitions, such as moving to a toddler bed, starting kindergarten, going to camp, starting puberty, beginning high school, and going off to college, etc., can be very stressful for some children.

The other confusing thing about stress is that the symptoms of being stressed do not always immediately follow whatever is causing the stress and the same situations don’t cause stress in all children or even for the same child at different stages in their life.

Helping Kids Cope With Stress

Although overlooked as many parents and children look for a quick fix for their problems with stress, it is important not to overlook the importance of regular exercise, a healthy diet, and a good night’s sleep to help them cope with any problems with any stress they are having.

Other ways to help your child cope with stress can include:

scheduling more free time for your child, especially if being too busy is the source of her stress

spending quality time with your child and give them plenty of opportunities to talk about their worries and problems

eating dinner together each night as a family and having other routines or rituals that you stick to on a regular basis

helping your child set realistic expectations for himself

be prepared for stressful situations that you can anticipate, such as the birth of a new sibling, a move to a new city, or a parent who is going to have surgery

giving your child age appropriate responsibilities and allowing him to overcome simple challenges on his own without always bailing him out, which can help teach them basic problem solving skills that he will need throughout his life

Your pediatrician can be a good resource if your need help managing your child’s level of stress, especially if your child’s symptoms from the stress are not temporary. A mental health professional, such as a counselor, child psychologist, and/or child psychiatrist, can also be very helpful for the overly stressed child or even for a child who does not routinely handle stress well.